Richard Cobden

Sculptor

Marshall Wood.

Date

1867

About the work

The statue of Richard Cobden stands in St Ann’s Square outside St Ann’s Church. Cobden was MP for Stockport from 1841 and was known throughout the country for being one of the founders of the Anti-Corn Law League along with John Bright, whose statue is in Albert Square. The Corn Laws were unfair because they pushed up the price of bread meaning that the poorest people could not afford to eat the most basic food.The abolition of the Corn Laws in 1846 under Prime Minister Robert Peel (whose statue stands in Piccadilly) saw Cobden hailed as a local hero and the statue was raised after his death in 1865